Reborn in America, I am a legendary short seller on Wall Street.

Chapter 85 Setting Up a Scheme (4K views, requesting monthly votes for August)

Holding this precious copy of "The Wealth of Nations" in his hands, Larry walked out of Mr. Morgan's private library.

Standing on the streets of New York, with the small suitcase tucked under his arm, Larry gently opened the book box and took out the book published in March 1776.

The book's full title is *An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations*. It is divided into five volumes, with a leather-bound cover and handmade paper pages—a typical style of 18th-century academic works. On the back of the book, the price is written: £1.16 shillings.

Larry was shocked when he saw the price. He thought to himself, "This book is the same age as the one in the United States. Was it priced this high back then?"

I didn't know 100 years ago that now $5 is needed to exchange for 1 pound sterling...

This book is really expensive! Especially since it's a first edition!
Mr. Morgan's move was indeed extraordinary.

His pure gold business card must be 18K gold, otherwise it would be too flimsy. But such extravagance is still astonishing.

Larry knew that gloves were necessary when handling such books, so he didn't intend to open them here, but he was very curious about what Mr. Morgan had written on the title page.

Larry then gently lifted the leather cover with his fingertips, and there on the first page was Mr. Morgan's intriguing quote.

"To our current friends and future rivals – JPM."

Larry was bewildered by this statement. He immediately recalled what Logan had once told him—"Why don't you consider buying my soul? My soul is much cheaper than you think..."

Of course, this was just Larry's initial reaction.

What if Mr. Morgan had actually shown interest in recruiting me back then? Would I have agreed?
Larry thought about it and realized that if we exclude those who haven't been born yet, there isn't anyone in this era who would make him give his loyalty unconditionally.

Even temporary cooperation is for the purpose of strengthening oneself, rather than being permanently tied to someone else.

When interests clash, even the best partners will become rivals.

In this sense, Mr. Morgan is right.

The only thing that puzzled Larry was that, according to Mr. Morgan's assessment, his evaluation of him was even higher than he had imagined.

Larry was puzzled. Could this level of importance stem from that brief ten-minute conversation?
Mr. Morgan's eye for people was even more astute than he had imagined...

He held the book, glanced back at Mr. Morgan's private library, then took a breath, shrugged, put the book back in the gift box, and carefully placed the gift box into his small suitcase.

However, after a brief moment of confusion, Larry regained his composure, and his eyes sharpened once more.

Now is not the time for sentimentality. The most important thing now is to plan the next steps, to deliver a heavy blow to those who are secretly accumulating shares in Colt Firearms stock, and to make the money that is rightfully ours. This requires careful planning.

Larry stood there thinking for a long time and came up with a preliminary plan, but then he rejected it because, in Larry's experience, preliminary plans were the least reliable, since anyone could come up with them.

What if others think the same way? How should I respond?
Larry pondered for a moment, then considered things from the other person's perspective.

Larry then found the most crucial clue to this operation: Mr. Morgan had asked him to personally convey a message to Colt that he would participate in Colt's stock issuance project and was very willing to become one of the most important investors on Colt's board of directors.

This information was known only to Mr. Morgan and his closest partners.

Given the meticulousness and professionalism of Mr. Morgan's team, Larry did not believe they could leak information, and Mr. Morgan, a man of such high status, would not possibly make a pittance from the fluctuations in Colt stock.

Therefore, the information he holds in his own mouth will become the most crucial point in the entire event.

The timing of this disclosure will determine the trajectory of Colt's stock price.

As Larry thought about this, a clear idea came to him—this time, he could also set up a scheme!

With that thought in mind, Larry didn't hesitate any longer. He grabbed his suitcase and hailed a horse-drawn carriage on the street.
"To Grand Central Station!" Larry ordered the driver.
.
Larry bought a ticket for the earliest train at Grand Central Station, which departed that evening for New Haven. The train arrived in New Haven at 5 a.m. the next day.

由于从纽黑文开往哈特福德的火车隶属于另外一家铁路公司，拉里又在大中央火车站另外一个售票口买了周四中午12点的另一班火车，而该火车将于1月29日周五晚上5点50分到达哈特福德。

This will give Larry half a day of trading time on Saturday.

That's enough time!

Larry then went to the nearest Western Union telegraph office.

Previously, Mr. Wallace had asked Larry to send him a telegram as soon as he had any results.

But Larry's draft telegram read:

"I will be taking the train back to Hartford at 6 p.m. on Friday, January 29th. Given the complexity of this matter, I request that Mr. Wallace meet me alone at the train station at 1 p.m. on Friday. This important matter must be discussed in person! Please remember, Mr. Wallace must come alone. Please call back to confirm."

After drafting the telegram, Larry thought it over repeatedly and only after confirming that there were no problems did he deliver the telegram and the address given by Mr. Wallace to the telegraph office staff.

The staff confirmed the message with Larry and charged him $2.5 for the telegram, based on the number of words and the address to which it was sent.

After sending the telegram, Larry sat to the side and waited patiently.

Less than an hour later, I received a call back with a simple reply: Mr. Wallace has agreed to meet me at Hartford train station on the evening of January 29th.

Larry nodded, tore the telegram to shreds, and threw it into the trash can.

Larry walked out of the telegraph office, opened his pocket watch, and saw that it was only 12:15 p.m., eight hours before his evening train departure.

Larry then strolled to the street and bought a $1 cigar, which was supposedly a Cuban cigar, from a newspaper and cigar vendor. He then lit the cigar on the spot and asked the vendor where the best steakhouse in New York was at that moment.

The vendor replied that Old House Steakhouse on Ninth Avenue in Chelsea is the oldest steakhouse in New York, but the closest one is Keans Steakhouse at 72 West 36th Street in Manhattan, which is a gathering place for New York's arts and finance elites.

Because it was once a pipe club, tens of thousands of celebrities' pipes hang from the ceiling, which is why it has become the most popular steakhouse in New York.

Larry got directions, walked two blocks south, and arrived at Keans Steakhouse.

It was lunchtime, the busiest time of day. Although there wasn't a queue at the steakhouse, Larry still had to wait five minutes to get a fairly elegant booth.

"What would you like to order?" A waitress who looked about Larry's age and was wearing a white apron asked as she approached.

Larry placed the small suitcase beside him and turned to ask, "What's your specialty here?"

"Signature lamb chops!!" The waitress nodded earnestly to Larry. Larry glanced at the steakhouse sign on the wall and nodded. "Then give me the signature lamb chops you mentioned."

"Okay, please wait a moment." The waitress turned and left.

Larry looked around. This Keans Steakhouse really resembled a museum. The ceiling was covered with pipes of all shapes and sizes, and there were pipes used by celebrities in the display windows. Coupled with the hand-painted posters, it had the atmosphere of a retro steakhouse from a later era.

The surroundings were a little noisy, with everyone chatting and eating steak. However, in front of Larry sat a tall, thin man in a conservative double-breasted suit, who had no steak in front of him but instead had a pile of newspapers spread out on the table.

Before long, a delicious, two-pound grilled lamb chop was served, along with onions, fried potatoes, and broccoli on the hot plate.

Larry sniffed it and his index finger twitched.

Just as I picked up my knife and fork to eat, the waitress brought me a glass of wine to accompany the meal—a local American bourbon whiskey.

The waitress glanced at the cigar Larry was holding between his fingers and asked, "Would you like another cigar after your meal?"

Larry paused for a moment, then understood the waiter's hidden meaning and asked with a smile, "How much is it in total?"

The waitress smiled. "Lamb chops are $3 and three-quarters, and whiskey is 50 cents."

Larry bought $5, saying, "Keep the change."

The waitress smiled and accepted the $5.

At that moment, the tall, thin man in the front row suddenly slammed his hand on the newspaper and muttered angrily, "This is slander! Alternating current is safe!"

The sound was so loud that it attracted the attention of several customers sitting nearby.

Larry frowned and asked the waitress, "Who is this?"

The waitress curled her lip. "A strange guy who eats at our restaurant every day at noon, but what's odd is that he's a vegetarian, so he only pays for the side dishes."

Larry nodded, thinking to himself that the word "alternating current" was a technical term he had learned in his previous life, and that apart from himself, he guessed that no one else in the restaurant would understand what he had just said.

Does this person understand alternating current?

Larry was about to strike up a conversation when the tall, thin man's friend arrived, and the two began chatting in a foreign language that Larry couldn't understand.

Larry frowned, thinking to himself that he'd let it go this time, but if he ran into him again, he'd have a good talk with him.

As he was leaving, Larry took out the opera ticket he had gotten for free from the hotel the day before, asked the waitress for a pen, and scribbled a line on the back of the ticket.

"Life is full of disappointments, but remember to face it with a smile. Sincerely, Larry Livingston."

After writing, Larry placed the pen and opera ticket on the waitress's tray and instructed her to give the ticket to the gentleman when he paid his bill and left, without saying anything else.

After finishing, Larry picked up his small suitcase and calmly walked out of the store.

The waitress stared at his back with her eyes slightly narrowed, feeling that this seemingly very young blond man had a special aura that set him apart from ordinary people.

The real Larry, after leaving Keans Steakhouse, hurriedly looked around for a pharmacy.

Damn it, the lamb chops I just ate were so gamey and greasy, my stomach is killing me now! I need to find an ice-cold Coke to cleanse my palate of the grease.

...Speaking of which, I feel like I'm becoming more and more dependent on cola and cigars?

Am I showing signs of addiction...?

……

What the hell!

……
.
At 2:30 p.m., Nikola Tesla saw off his fellow Serbian and sat dejectedly at the long table in the steakhouse, his gaze sweeping over the newspapers on the table once more.

The above are all slanders against him by Edison.

Tesla's disagreement with Edison was originally academic. Edison insisted that direct current was both safe and reliable, but Tesla believed that direct current had its own insurmountable problems, and that in a future with enough electrical appliances, it would be impossible to build a small power station every 2 kilometers, as the cost would be too high.

Transformers and alternating current are necessary to achieve power transmission over hundreds of kilometers with minimal loss.

But Edison, whom he once regarded as an idol and mentor, went so far as to publicly slander alternating current in newspapers in order to refute him, and even used the method of electrocuting animals to prove the danger of alternating current.

This is already slander!
Thinking about this, Nikola Tesla was still indignant. But he was powerless to refute it at the moment, after all, that was a universally recognized great inventor in the United States, while his own voice was insignificant.

Tesla learned that Edison was contacting Mr. Morgan to seek to expand the application of electricity and electric lights, and Tesla was also thinking of doing so. He was also trying to find a way to explain alternating current to Mr. Morgan in person.

Finally, Tesla glanced at the newspaper article about Edison using alternating current to continuously electrocute rats and dogs, disgustedly pushed the newspaper aside, looked up, and called out to the waiter,
"Bill, please!"

Tesla pulled $1.5 from his pocket, which was his daily fixed meal allowance.

But the waitress handed him a tray, and Tesla stared at it. On it was a ticket to a Broadway musical that would be playing at 8 p.m. that night.

"What is this?" Tesla stared in astonishment at the ticket.

The waitress remained smiling and silent, instead flipping the ticket over.
Tesla saw the inscription on the back of the ticket: “Life has many disappointments, but remember to face them with a smile. Sincerely, Larry Livingston.”

"Who is Larry Livingston?" Tesla frowned slightly, looking puzzled.

The other party clearly meant well, but this inexplicable kindness inevitably made Tesla feel puzzled.

Seeing Tesla's persistent and confused expression, the waitress explained,

"That gentleman looks like a young, handsome, wealthy man. He gave you this ticket because he saw you weren't happy sitting here eating."

Seeing that Tesla was still a little hesitant, the waitress smiled and added, "It's not a big deal. I think Mr. Livingston is right. Just face life with a smile. Go see an opera tonight to relax, and we can talk about it tomorrow."

Tesla's mind raced, and he carefully tucked the ticket into his pocket, muttering the unfamiliar name to himself.
"Larry Livingston..."

(End of this chapter)